Vanguard Group Inc. Raises Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 68,630,598 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,868,508 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 12.45% of General Mills worth $4,376,573,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in General Mills by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after buying an additional 2,867,678 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 64.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company's stock valued at $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,731,471 shares of the company's stock worth $365,496,000 after acquiring an additional 670,642 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in General Mills by 105.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company's stock worth $421,552,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in General Mills by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,082,376 shares of the company's stock valued at $248,902,000 after purchasing an additional 360,368 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

General Mills Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:GIS traded down $0.42 on Tuesday, reaching $57.75. The stock had a trading volume of 4,987,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,115,364. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.15 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The company has a market cap of $31.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The firm's fifty day moving average is $59.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.16%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is presently 52.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on GIS. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on General Mills in a research report on Monday. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.69.

General Mills Profile

General Mills, Inc manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company operates through four segments: North America Retail; International; Pet; and North America Foodservice. It offers grain, ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and savory snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, unbaked and fully baked frozen dough products, frozen hot snacks, ethnic meals, side dish mixes, frozen breakfast and entrees, nutrition bars, and frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.